Update on Pickering Nurseries
Contrary to some rumors making the rounds because of their move from Pickering to Port Hope, Ontario, Pickering Nurseries is alive
and well and very much in the rose business. Aside from the move,
the only change is that they will no longer operate a retail garden
centre. They will concentrate on what they do best; growing good
roses on healthy multiflora rootstock and filling retail and wholesale
orders that are sent by mail or via the Internet. Their new, updated
website is now online and their new catalogue will be in the mail by early
fall.
Below is a copy of the letter that has been on their old website,
explaining their move.
“Dear Rose Friends,
I writing to let you
know that after 48 years of operation our garden centre on Hwy #2 in Pickering will close
permanently on June 30, 2004 and as such our address will change to:
Pickering Nurseries
3043 County Rd. #2
RR#1 Port Hope, ON
L1A 3V5
Tel. 905-753-2155,
1-866-269-9282
Office Hours: Monday
to Friday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm EDT
WE WILL CONTINUE TO
SHIP ROSE ORDERS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD FROM OUR NEW FACILITY.
In the fall of 2001
my father and I made the decision to buy a 96-acre farm in Port Hope with the
intention of moving our rose growing operation there. Our facility in Pickering, which my
father opened in 1956 and re-built in 1969, is no longer large enough for
our needs. It has also become increasingly difficult to find suitable land
for growing our roses in Pickering.
We budded our first crop of roses in Port Hope in the summer of 2002.
In the late summer
of 2003 we began construction of our new building to store the upcoming
harvest and process the 2004 orders. Our new facility will allow us to increase
our production and improve our efficiency with regards to storage and
order processing and assembly both retail mail order and wholesale.
As such my father
and I made the decision to sell the Pickering
property and leave the garden centre industry to concentrate our efforts
on growing our rose business.
The process of
moving a 48-year-old business is proving to be quite an undertaking. All
this activity will delay us in releasing our new catalogue and making the
updates to our website. There will be quite a number of new varieties, new
pictures and new features added to the site so the future is exciting for
Pickering Nurseries
Yours Truly,
Joel Schraven
President”